Enzymatic reactions that involve DNA and RNA are numerous, and they play a central role in maintenance and propagation of living cells. Since the discovery of the DNA double helix structure in 1953, researchers have found, isolated and introduced into practice a multitude of different enzymes that can, for example, cut, nick, trim, join, unwind, phosphorylate, de-phosphorylate, methylate, de-methylate, recombine, replicate, transcribe, repair, and perform many other reactions with nucleic acid molecules. These enzymes are now actively used in many areas of biology, biotechnology and medicine to clone, amplify, sequence, identify mutations, quantify gene copy number, establish expression patterns, determine DNA methylation status, etc.
Frequently the process of DNA analysis involves multiple enzymatic reactions that are performed in a sequential manner, with intermediate purification steps between the reactions. Sometimes, the reactions are multiplexed to combine in one reaction the analysis of several DNA or RNA targets, and the nucleic acid processing or analysis may involve mutiplexing of two or three enzymatic processes in one reaction. Furthermore, DNA and RNA enzymatic reactions frequently utilize synthetic nucleic acid components, such as single stranded or double stranded oligonucleotides that function as PCR or sequencing primers, ligation adaptors, or fluorescent probes, for example.
Adaptors and Their Use for DNA Processing
Supplementing DNA ends with additional short polynucleotide sequences, referred to as an adaptor or linker, is used in many areas of molecular biology. The usefulness of adapted DNA molecules is illustrated by but not limited to several examples, such as ligation-mediated locus-specific PCR, ligation-mediated whole genome amplification, adaptor-mediated DNA cloning, DNA affinity tagging, DNA labeling, etc.
Ligation-Mediated Amplification of Unknown Regions Flanking Known DNA Sequence
Libraries generated by DNA fragmentation and addition of a universal adaptor to one or both DNA ends were used to amplify (by PCR) and sequence DNA regions adjacent to a previously established DNA sequence (see U.S. Pat. No. 6,777,187 and references therein, for example, all of which are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety). The adaptor can be ligated to the 5′ end, the 3′ end, or both strands of DNA. The adaptor can have a 3′ or 5′ overhang, depending on the structure of the overhang generated by restriction enzyme digestion of DNA. It can also a have blunt end, especially in the cases when DNA ends are “polished” after enzymatic, mechanical, or chemical DNA fragmentation. Ligation-mediated PCR amplification is achieved by using a locus-specific primer (or several nested primers) and a universal primer complementary to the adaptor sequence.
Ligation-Mediated Whole Genome Amplification
Libraries generated by DNA fragmentation and subsequent attachment of a universal adaptor to both DNA ends were used to amplify whole genomic DNA (whole genome amplification, or WGA) (see U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 10/797,333 and 10/795,667 and references therein, for example, all of which are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety). The adaptor can be ligated to both strands of DNA or only to the 3′ end followed by extension. The adaptor can have a 3′ or 5′ overhang, depending on the structure of the DNA end generated by restriction enzyme or other enzyme used to digest DNA. It can also have a blunt end, such as in the cases where DNA ends after enzymatic DNA cleavage are blunt or when the ends are repaired and “polished” after enzymatic, mechanical, or chemical DNA fragmentation. Whole genome PCR amplification is achieved by using one or two universal primers complementary to the adaptor sequence(s), in specific embodiments.
Adaptor-Mediated DNA Cloning
Adaptors (or linkers) are frequently used for DNA cloning (see Sambrook et al., 1989, for example). Ligation of double stranded adaptors to DNA fragments produced by sonication, nebulization, or hydro-shearing process followed by restriction digestion within the adaptors allows production of DNA fragments with 3′ or 5′ protruding ends that can be efficiently introduced into a vector sequence and cloned.
Use of Stem-Loop (Hairpin) DNA Oligonucleotides for Nucleic Acid Analysis
Stem-loop (also referred to as hairpin) oligonucleotides have been used in several applications for analysis and detection of nucleic acids. These applications include molecular beacons, stem-loop PCR primers, and stem-loop DNA probes, immobilized on microarrays (Broude, 2002).
Molecular Beacons
A molecular beacon is a single-stranded oligonucleotide probe containing a sequence complementary to the target that is flanked by self-complementary termini, and carries a fluorophore and a quencher at the 3′ and 5′ ends, respectively (Tyagi and Kramer, 1996). In the absence of target the fluorophore and the quencher are in a close proximity, which quenches fluorescence. Upon hybridization with the target, the beacon changes its conformation so that the fluorophore and the quencher become separated, and fluorescence increases up to 100-200 times. Molecular beacons have found many applications for real-time monitoring of PCR (Tyagi et al., 1998) and isothermal amplification (de Baar et al., 2001), as microarray-immobilized probes (Liu et al., 2000), as antisense probes for RNA detection in vivo (Sokol et al., 1998), and as a probe to measure DNA polymerase activity (Summerer and Marx, 2002) and monitor conformational changes of DNA targets (Goddard et al., 2000).
Stem-Loop (Hairpin) PCR Primers
PCR primers containing hairpin structures on their 5′ ends with donor and acceptor moieties located in close proximity on the stem-loop stem have been proposed for homogeneous (a closed tube) format for amplification, real-time quantification and mismatch detection by PCR (Broude, 2002). A stem-loop primer with a fluorophore at the 5′ end and a “scorpion” probe is simultaneously a molecular beacon and a PCR primer (Whitcombe et al., 1999). It has a tail attached to its 5′ end by a linker that prevents copying of the 5′ extension. The probe element is designed so that it hybridizes to its target only when the target site has been incorporated into the same molecule by extension of the tailed primer. It was also shown that stem-loop probes can be used as primers for PCR to reduce primer-dimer formation and mispriming, thereby increasing its specificity (Kaboev et al., 2000).
Stem-Loop Microarray Probes
Stem-loop probes can also be used as capture devices if the loop is immobilized on a surface and dangling ends are used for stacking-hybridization, thus providing both faster kinetics and higher hybrid stability (Riccelli et al., 2001). Immobilized molecular beacon probes can be used for direct detection of non-amplified target DNA and RNA molecules (Hamad-Schifferli et al., 2002).
Multiplexed Reactions that Involve DNA and RNA Molecules
Several types of multiplexed reactions that involve DNA or RNA are described to date. The multiplexed reactions can be divided into two major categories: reactions where two or more DNA/RNA sequences are amplified or detected simultaneously in one enzymatic process, and reactions where several enzymatic processes occur simultaneously with one DNA or RNA template.
Several Targets-One Enzyme
Multiplex PCR and RT-PCR are examples of the first category of multiplexed reactions (Mackay et al., 2000). In this case, several genomic or cDNA regions are amplified in one polymerase chain reaction carried out by one thermostable DNA polymerase. Whole genome or whole transcriptome amplification is another example of highly multiplexed DNA/RNA amplification reactions carried out by methophilic (Phi 29) or thermophylic (Taq) DNA polymerase (Sambrook et al., 1989).
One Target-Several Enzymes
“Long distance” PCR, nucleic acid sequence-based amplification (NASBA), its analog, transcription-mediated amplification (TMA), and DNA strand-displacement amplification (SDA) are examples of the second category of multiplexed DNA/RNA amplification reactions. In the “long distance” PCR method there is a mixture of Taq DNA polymerase and another thermo-stable DNA polymerase with 3′ proofreading activity (Barns, 1994). TMA and NASBA methods utilize transcription-mediated amplification that involves three enzymes: T7 RNA polymerase, reverse transcriptase, and RNase H (Deiman et al., 2001). In the SDA method, two enzymes (a DNA polymerase and a restriction endonuclease) are combined in one enzymatic step to amplify DNA (Hellyer and Naolean, 2004).
DNA nick-translation method is an example of a DNA labeling reaction that involves two enzymes. The method is based on simultaneous incubation of DNA with DNase I and DNA polymerase I. DNase I generates nicks in the DNA molecule, while DNA polymerase I incorporates labeled nucleotides by initiating DNA synthesis from the nicked sites (Sambrook et al., 1989).
dU-glycosylase (which is also referred to as Uracyl-DNA Glycosylase or UDG) and endonuclease VIII can be combined to produce the enzymatic mix, or the USER enzyme for fragmentation of DNA containing dU bases (New England Biolabs; Beverly, Mass.) may be employed. The fragmentation process occurs through enzymatic generation and cleavage of abasic sites at positions of dU bases.
Several Targets-Several Enzymes
There is description of multiplexed amplification and detection of several nucleic acid sequences using three-enzyme TMA and NASBA methods (van Deursen et al., 1999).